The attack on Israel has been called a ‘9/11 moment’. Therein lies a cautionary tale | Kenneth Roth

If the Israeli government responds to this moment like George W Bush, it will soon follow the route of his government from global sympathy to global outrage

Hamas's appalling attack on Israeli civilians has been widely described as the country's 9/11 moment". It is an appropriate description of such wanton cruelty. But the analogy carries a cautionary note as well.

The US government lost the world's sympathy, and the moral high ground, when its response to 9/11 degenerated into a highly abusive war in Iraq, systematic torture, and endless detention without trial in Guantanamo. The Israeli government should be careful not to replicate this path to opprobrium. Indeed, such an abusive response may be exactly what Hamas wanted to provoke.